MNHQ here: Owlet Baby Care and wearable tech for babies

This would just make me unnecessarily anxious. Totally unnecessary in otherwise healthy babies

I've two grown up children and I can imagine it would have increased my anxiety levels hugely. I'm now a grandma and would hate to think that my daughter and her partner thought they would need this device in order to ensure their babies safety.
Awful product, preying in parents fears and vulnerabilities.

Are their products actually certified and tested as medical technology? Or are they claiming like many of these companies do that they don’t need to because it’s consumer tech for ‘entertainment’ and it doesn’t make any medical claims, while also telling parents this will give us vital important medical information about our babies?

I thought we might be talking about something like this

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4527180/figure/F1/

(so, you can see what your baby is looking at which helps know what to talk to them about!)

But no, not vital stats monitoring. The Angel Care mattress things are bad enough - reassure some parents falsely while making others more anxious.

I would have used one with dd1, I was horrifically anxious. It wouldn’t have solved my anxiety, but it would have let me get some sleep, and maybe travel in the front of the car..

Please don’t as many pp have articulated better than I can this is a really bad idea.
It’s preying on anxious parents for financial gain. Mumnet this is not what you’re about. I understand that you’re a business and need revenue streams but this just goes against everything that the site promotes (or at least what I think you are about).
These devices are useful for a very small population group where medically indicated and the medicalisation of normal healthy childhood is just wrong.
Please don’t, I think the fact that you’re asking the question speaks volumes.

If you think about this as a concept, it's really scary. The simple fact is that this is a piece of medical equipment for use in hospitals. Most parents have no idea about pulse oximetry and wouldnt know what normal heart rates are for babies. Say a baby's pulse goes10 above or below what the instruction manual tell you is normal. Then what? Scared parents will be staying up all night watching their babies or a monitor.

Healthy normal babies will be sleeping wearing medical equipment they dont need. That's awful.

I agree - this would be a really bad idea.

Not a fan for all the reasons previously posted.
I think it's unnecessary and would cause more anxiety in new parents.
'Wearable tech for babies' to me just sounds...wrong

Wearable tech for babies

What a depressing phrase

Decidedly not a fan, for all the reasons PPs have stated. I see enough crippling anxiety about perfectly normal babies on these boards as it is.

You know how people are talking about an epidemic of anxiety, MNHQ? How much less safe and healthy does it make a baby to have a parent whose anxiety is being deliberately fostered by marketers and people like you who should know better?

I would be interested, we invested in an oxygen monitor for my second son after he had bronchiolitis and it really calmed me down.

I'd love to see some more about this stuff. As an expectant first time parent (and gadget lover), I've bought a few similar things in preparation but there's so much out there, it's quite overwhelming to figure out which technologies to trust and what is actually just there to make money out of terrified parents.

'Wearable tech for babies'?
😄
It's a no from me. Useful and appropriate for probably 2% of parents. Just needless expense and anxiety-fodder for the other 98%.

I used the Snuza Hero and the Angelcare mat with my baby. I was so scared to fall asleep and these products gave me a chance to actually allow myself a chance to sleep. I loved them.

Phrases like 'wearable tech for babies' make me want to check whether it's April Fools Day.

Really Mumsnet? Pulse oximetry has a place in hospitals and in homes when families have been advised by health professionals to use them. Otherwise peddling this kind of monitoring to anxious parents is abhorrent.

"Wearable tech for babies"

Don't associate your brand with these vultures that prey on anxious parents, MNHQ.

Show me the evidence base.

Of course some children need monitoring for clinical reasons but those will be children with care plans and equipment sourced through the NHS etc and under medical guidance.

For the average, healthy baby there is no need. How long until we see the tragedy stories like we do with people who bought a Doppler, didn't get checked out and lost their child? If you make what is essentially medical equipment widely available you invite stress, panic and ultimately you put the child at risk.

You can't waltz into a hospital and demand to have a brain scan because you fancy looking at it and you can't buy an mri scanner on the shelf in boots. Nor should you be able to buy dopplers, sats monitors etc. If a baby needs monitoring for clinical reasons then they need equipment that is regularly calibrated and tested from a medical supplier.

‘The best what to check your baby is ok’

This is utterly insane.

Agree with all of the above, it's an unnecessary product for new parents to cause further stress.

I think it wouid be a very bad idea.

Absolutely not a fan of this idea.

I think it's totally unnecessary.

Unless people know exactly how to interpret what is going on and the reasons behind the readings then this type of thing is pointless and feels like a way of making money. As an a&e nurse, I would rather see any parent who had any concern about how their child looks/behaves/seems, no matter how small, rather than a parent who presents a load of numbers to me when they don’t know exactly what the numbers mean